Easy Low-Waste Recipes
6 recipes to reduce food waste in your kitchen
What does a low-waste recipe mean to you? For me, it's about transforming kitchen scraps I'd normally discard into something delicious and useful.
Growing up in a developing country where food scarcity was visible everywhere, I didn't actively think about food waste. That changed when I started working in hospitality, where waste became impossible to ignore–especially during large events. While saving parsley stems or chicken bones might seem small, I've learned that these simple actions often inspire bigger changes.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview someone I admire deeply - Ronni Kahn, founder of OzHarvest for an SBS Food feature around food waste in Australia, this made me think more about the little steps I'm taking in my own home and how I can always look for more ways to turn food scraps into something substantial, accessible and delicious.
I've compiled some of my favourite low-waste recipes that are surprisingly simple to make. You can start today by saving vegetable and chicken scraps for homemade stock, transforming overripe bananas into the fluffiest banana bread, or turning leftover rhubarb poaching liquid into jelly. Keep reading for the complete list of easy ways to reduce waste in your kitchen.
6 Easy Low-Waste Recipes -
Chicken/ Veggie Scrap Stock
The base of countless recipes and the ultimate way to reduce waste in your kitchen - turn food scraps into this immunity boosting, flavourful broth. I save carrot and pumpkin peels, vegetable cores, parsley stems, and the tops and bottoms of veggies, along with chicken bones in the freezer for a few weeks before turning them into this stock.
Vegan Green Goddess Dressing
This recipe is so easy and such a great way to use up those herbs dwindling in your fridge. You can mix and match, throwing in any herbs for this one. Coriander, parsley, mint, basil, chives or dill, throw them in a blender (yes, the stems too) and you have a flavour packed dressing in minutes.
Savoury Spiced Granola
A spiced, nutty, crunchy alternative to your traditional sweet granola, made with oats, nuts and seeds, smoked paprika, zaatar and sumac. I use canned chickpeas for added protein, and the aquafaba (chickpea liquid) gets whipped into soft peaks and folded in with the granola mix, helping it bind together.
Foolproof Banana Bread
Everyone’s favourite way to reduce kitchen waste - turning ripe bananas into banana bread. This recipe is so quick and easy to whip up and as with any good banana bread recipe, it relies on overripe bananas for sweetness and a moist texture. This recipe also uses olive oil and yoghurt for a balanced, moist yet fluffy loaf recipe you’ll keep going back to.
Upside Down Blood Orange Cake
This beautiful recipe has a no-waste element that is so simple, it barely feels like a swap. Instead of peeling the oranges and discarding the peel, unpeeled, thinly slices blood oranges are boiled to remove the bitterness of the pitch before being baked into this golden, upside down cake.
2 Ingredient Rhubarb Jelly
One of my favourite low-waste recipes, this simple dessert uses the leftover poaching liquid from rhubarb, paired with a bit of gelatin to turn it into a bouncy, fruity yet light and flavourful dessert.
Liked these recipes? Check out all my recipes here >
